Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Tuesday said that the overall Industrial Production Index (IPI) in Palestine reached 86.32 during March 2020 with a sharp decrease of 24.60% compared to February 2020 (Base Year2018 = 100).

IPI for March 2020 sharply decreased due to the decrease in the activities of Mining and Quarrying by 28.77% which had a share of 2.68% of the total industry, the activities of Manufacturing Industry by 28.62% which had a share of 82.98% of the total industry, and the activities of Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply by 0.79% which had a share of 11.95% of the total industry, while the activities of Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation increased by 0.53% which had a share of 2.39% of the total industry.

The PCBS noted that as a result of CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) outbreak, and the implemented measures to limit its spread, the data collection process for Industrial Production Index has been replaced with data collection via phone in all of the Palestinian Governorates instead of collecting data face to face from the field.

It added that the number of Industrial facilities, from which Industrial Production values are collected in Palestine, reached 365 facilities. Thus, in light of the temporary closure of many facilities due to applying the Palestinian emergency plan, the completion of data collection process is as follows: